Students please keep in mind that academic achievement doesn’t just happen to you. You don’t just wake up one day and become an excellent student and ready to succeed in your college classes. It requires your time and dedication. It is important for you to approach your daily school attendance, your class participation and your homework with a long term view consistently seeking to improve your academic abilities. You will build your strengths as you practice your craft with every math calculation with each word you read and write. This is your challenge!
We look forward to helping you "practice your craft" every step of the way. If you haven't requested a tutor and still need one, please see one of us immediately. I would also be interested in hearing from students regarding what, if any, tutoring services may be available to you at your high schools so that we can share this information with other students who may not be aware that they are offered.
Below is an example of how you can practice your craft. Here is an article from the New York Times that outlines the importance of a simple practice, reading the newspaper.
By JAMES MacGREGOR BURNSPublished in New York Times: September 5, 2009
Try to read a good newspaper every day — at bedtime or at breakfast or when you take a break in the afternoon. If you are interested in art, literature or music, widen your horizons by poring over the science section. In the mood for spicy scandals? Read the business pages. Want to impress your poli sci prof? Read columnists.
The newspaper will be your path to the world at large. At Williams College, where I was a student in the 1930s, we read the alarming reports in The Times about Germany’s brutal onslaught against peaceful nations. In the spring of 1938, we burned Hitler in effigy — and made Page 11 of The Times! In June 1940, as France fell to Nazi troops, hundreds of graduating seniors urged compulsory military training, and provided another Williams story to the paper.
In addition, a great newspaper will teach you how to write: most articles are models of clarity and substance — with no academic jargon! Pay attention to the writer’s vocabulary, see how many active verbs are used, file away striking new words for future use. Study how articles are structured — how the first paragraph tells the reader simply and clearly the subject and main points. Take a look at the last paragraph; it will often show you how to conclude an essay with a pithy phrase or a telling quotation.
A great newspaper will help you in the classroom — and it will be your conduit to the real world outside the classroom. Become addicted.
Another way to stay connected with the real world: get to know your teachers outside of class. Chat and engage with them, perhaps on the walk away from class. Ask them not only about the coursework but also about their own intellectual interests and research. Equally important to maintaining that lifeline to the universe beyond college is getting to know the janitors and housekeepers in your dorm, the security staff on the campus, the people who work in the cafeteria. Talk to them, ask them questions and thank them.
James MacGregor Burns, a professor emeritus of government at Williams College and the author, most recently, of “Packing the Court,” has been teaching since 1947.
Remember:
Your mind is a garden,
You thoughts are the seeds,
The harvest can be either flowers or weeds.
Author Unknown
Practice, practice ...
Students please keep in mind that academic achievement doesn’t just happen to you. You don’t just wake up one day and become an excellent student and ready to succeed in your college classes. It requires your time and dedication. It is important for you to approach your daily school attendance, your class participation and your homework with a long term view consistently seeking to improve your academic abilities. You will build your strengths as you practice your craft with every math calculation with each word you read and write. This is your challenge!
We look forward to helping you "practice your craft" every step of the way. If you haven't requested a tutor and still need one, please see one of us immediately. I would also be interested in hearing from students regarding what, if any, tutoring services may be available to you at your high schools so that we can share this information with other students who may not be aware that they are offered.
Below is an example of how you can practice your craft. Here is an article from the New York Times that outlines the importance of a simple practice, reading the newspaper.
By JAMES MacGREGOR BURNSPublished in New York Times: September 5, 2009
Try to read a good newspaper every day — at bedtime or at breakfast or when you take a break in the afternoon. If you are interested in art, literature or music, widen your horizons by poring over the science section. In the mood for spicy scandals? Read the business pages. Want to impress your poli sci prof? Read columnists.
The newspaper will be your path to the world at large. At Williams College, where I was a student in the 1930s, we read the alarming reports in The Times about Germany’s brutal onslaught against peaceful nations. In the spring of 1938, we burned Hitler in effigy — and made Page 11 of The Times! In June 1940, as France fell to Nazi troops, hundreds of graduating seniors urged compulsory military training, and provided another Williams story to the paper.
In addition, a great newspaper will teach you how to write: most articles are models of clarity and substance — with no academic jargon! Pay attention to the writer’s vocabulary, see how many active verbs are used, file away striking new words for future use. Study how articles are structured — how the first paragraph tells the reader simply and clearly the subject and main points. Take a look at the last paragraph; it will often show you how to conclude an essay with a pithy phrase or a telling quotation.
A great newspaper will help you in the classroom — and it will be your conduit to the real world outside the classroom. Become addicted.
Another way to stay connected with the real world: get to know your teachers outside of class. Chat and engage with them, perhaps on the walk away from class. Ask them not only about the coursework but also about their own intellectual interests and research. Equally important to maintaining that lifeline to the universe beyond college is getting to know the janitors and housekeepers in your dorm, the security staff on the campus, the people who work in the cafeteria. Talk to them, ask them questions and thank them.
James MacGregor Burns, a professor emeritus of government at Williams College and the author, most recently, of “Packing the Court,” has been teaching since 1947.
Remember:
Your mind is a garden,
You thoughts are the seeds,
The harvest can be either flowers or weeds.
Author Unknown